Beverley Callard quits Coronation Street
Her character, Liz McDonald, will once again be bidding farewell to the cobbles.
Callard’s exit was first reported on by OK!, with the actress telling the publication that she had given in her notice at the ITV soap only very recently.
She appeared on Loose Women today (18th Nov) to confirm her decision to bow out from the saga, explaining that whilst her alter-ego wouldn’t be killed off she would leave the soap ‘with a bang’.
“I did think, because the show is 60 next year, they’re going to kill me off. They’ve said they’re not, but she’ll go with a bang,” she told the ITV programme.
Callard added that she was expecting to be on screen for a while yet and had only just broken the news to some of her castmates.
“I told some of them last night – Simon Gregson, who plays my son Steve, and Kate Ford who plays Tracy Barlow. They’re really sad but we’ll still see each other.”
Beverley has recently been starring in The Thunder Girls, a comedy play about four 50-plus women which debuted at The Lowry in September.
She told OK! that she was “sick of ageism in the industry,” adding that whilst she’s had to leave the street to focus on the production, she hopes it will put a message across to ‘ageist’ casting directors.
“I’m hoping they will take note of how successful this show is and it starts the ball rolling on helping other women my age, get the roles they still deserve.”
Callard has appeared on-and-off as tarty Liz in Coronation Street since October 1989. The character is best known for her stormy relationship with Jim McDonald (Charles Lawson) and for her many years in charge of the Rovers.
